Star Wars: Republic Commando - Rapid
by The Marvel Man
Summary: An elite Clone Commando squad has been sent to take out a dangerous, high ranking Seperatist Supporter on the planet Tahlk in the Rhagaon Sector that has been terrorizing citizens of the sector with the help of the CIS's support.
**Disclaimer:** I do not own Star Wars. Star Wars is copyrighted to Disney and LucasFilm. I do, however, own any and all original places and Characters created throughout _Star Wars: Republic Command - Rapid_.

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Star Wars

Republic Commando

 _Rapid_

 _Target: Caltysh Mh'eeq. Self-proclaimed Overlord of Rhagaon Sector. High-Ranking Separatist supporter. Fifteen hundred droid militia at disposal. Has been terrorising citizens for two months. Many innocent civilians have been killed. Separatist droids have replaced police force. Confirmed he is planning enslaving citizens and forming 'New World'._

 _Insertion method: Rapid infiltration._ _Orders: Eliminate._ _No civilian casualties._

—Mission notes given to Bralov Squad upon briefing

RAS Dominance _Hangar Bay_

 _Breaching atmosphere of the planet Tahlk_

 _Rhagaon Sector_

 _7 Months after the Battle of Geonosis_

The hull was shaking under their feet as _Dominance_ cut through the thick atmosphere of the planet _Tahlk_. The Republic Assault Ship descended rapidly, getting closer and closer to the planet's surface. As the descent slowed, the hanger bay doors opened, preparing for the _LAAT/i_ carrying Bralov to depart and fly closer to the infiltration point.

Dark clouds, thundering rain and the cover of nightfall had granted Bralov the element of surprise, but it was going to make the journey to the planet's surface far more dangerous; a risk they were willing to take.

Caybur couldn't hear the directors in the hangar over the crashing rain, he just heard the pilot responding with "check" every few seconds to ensure that everything was ready for departure. The pilot then turned his attention to Bralov.

"Hope you boys are ready!" he yelled over the thunder and rain.

They didn't have time to respond, the heavy blast doors slammed shut and sealed, mostly as a precaution to ensure that the weather didn't affect the ship or the people inside it. A small light turned red and alongside the faint blue t-shaped visors of the commandos' helmets, were the only lights visible in the cabin.

To outsiders, the emotionless expression of a clone's helmet might have been confronting, even disturbing, but inside was a different story. Caybur could hear the differing rhythms of breathing, the way each of his brothers inhaled and exhaled told a different story. But they all had one thing in common; they had all been hit by the adrenaline, and they were all prepared for what came next.

There was an initial shock as the conveyor belt that held the gunship began moving, but within mere seconds, they were all hanging precariously over the open hangar door, waiting to be dropped.

He felt his stomach shoot upwards into his throat as the claw opened and the LAAT/i—the _larty_ — dropped. It felt like minutes, but they knew it was only matter of seconds, each one being drawn out with the immense speed of free falling through the sky.

A shock-wave was sent through the cabin as the repulsors kicked in, paired with a wave of relief from the squad that the ship's engines hadn't failed, an unlikely situation but one that they knew to always be prepared for should the day come.

Bralov had all the equipment they need either in their pack or in their hands. They knew the operation would be fast, and they were going to have to keep it fast, which meant they also had to keep equipment light. Too much equipment would slow them down, but too little would result in a failure, something they didn't want to have to return home with.

The commlink in their helmets sprung to life.

"Alright boys, we know the situation," Kedin started. "Hard infil above target building, rappel down, slot the leader while we have the element of surprise and then bang out and head home. Larty will be circling close waiting for exfil call."

The three remaining blue T's in the darkness nodded.

"Here we go, Bralov!" the pilot shouted. "This might get rough!" His voice was barely audible over the sound of the rain being pelted against the blast doors of the gunship, the thunder crashing in the background and the low hum of the drives pushing the ship forward.

He was right, though. Caybur knew—they _all_ knew—that the journey was going to be rough for the pilots, but Bralov had absolute faith that the pilots could get the job done. This is what they were trained for.

Bralov ensured their lines were securely attached to both their utility belts and the mechanism aboard the gunship that was going to be lowering them down to their target. They then made sure their equipment was prepared, as they did every chance they got.

"Get ready!"

Caybur set his chrono to time the mission.

The squad braced as this ship drew lower to the city skyline and came to a halt rather quickly, definitely more quickly than the squad would have liked.

"Go, go, go!" the pilot called.

Within the blink of an eye, the light inside the holding area had turned green, the blast doors had sprung open, and the night air filled with wind and rain had infiltrated the cabin. But there was no time to stop and think about that. They jumped as one from both sides of the gunship, two on each side: Prudii and Caybur on the left, Kedin and Orar on the right.

Their boots touched down on the permacrete roof within seconds of each other. It took even less time for them to unlatch their rappel lines and start for the single door atop the sky rise building. Bralov formed up around the door, two on either side, as the larty pulled away towards the dark, thundering sky.

Caybur reached for the door handle. "Locked, Sarge."

"Breach it," Kedin replied.

They backed away half a step as Caybur stuck a charge to the door and primed it, turning away and waiting for the breach to go off.

He counted down the seconds.

 _3... 2... 1..._

 _BANG!_

The door bounced open enough for the squad to rush in single file, Orar trailing in behind to cover the rear should anything happen. Spotlamps illuminated the stairwell as the squad proceeded down the flight of stairs.

"This is old tech." Prudii vocalised the thought that the rest of the squad was thinking.

"No turbolift here," Orar added.

"Shut it, boys," Kedin ordered. "Job to do. Penthouse should be coming up."

As they came to another floor, they veered off the staircase itself and came to a closed door. Caybur once again took point at the door. Rifle at one hand, door handle on the other. His squad stacked up behind and pressed against the door.

"Alright, this is it," Kedin said on the helmet commlink, his voice almost a whisper despite his voice being inaudible to the outside world. "When we get to the main room, Caybur will throw in a flash bang, keep an eye out for civvies, clear to fire on anyway with a weapon, Mh'eeq is number one priority."

They had run over the objectives a hundred times. It was simply force of habit to run through it once more before engaging targets.

Caybur stood to the side of the door that lined up with the handle, Kedin behind him, Prudii and Orar standing directly opposite. They had studied the layout of the building many times, and had been drilled in storming rooms throughout their intensive training. He pulled a small device from his pouch that was thinner than a piece of parchment and slid it under the door. An image appeared on his HUD that showed the back room of the penthouse apartment they were about to enter.

"Scan shows no life," Caybur reported.

"On your go," Kedin ordered.

Caybur mentally counted down from 3 in his head, then he slowly opened the door and crept in, his squad following behind him in a half-crouched walk making sure their footsteps were as silent as possible. Inside the room was a door that stood ajar with a small gap that he could peer through and see into the main room. He spotted their target, as well as two others he didn't recognise.

Mh'eeq was a large male twi'lek, his skin pale green in colour. He was sitting in a hovering chair behind a business style desk on the other side of the room in front of a large pane glass window, the two other figures were difficult to identify from behind. The man sitting in front of the desk on the right had short, black hair, but he didn't look old. He was wearing a business style suit, as was the man to the left. He, however, had longer grey hair than the man to his right. Caybur couldn't see any signs of weapons which made him reluctant to call them targets.

"Target identified, two unknowns." Caybur moved back from the door and readied himself, pulling a flashbang grenade from his belt. "Unknowns aren't carrying weapons. Orders?" He didn't like throwing all of the responsibility on Kedin, but it was his role as the squad's sergeant.

Kedin paused for a mere moment. "Prudii and Orar, go lethal on two unknowns, Caybur keep on Mh'eeq, I'll cover if anyone else pops out."

Caybur took a breath... And with that, he used his boot to open the door and threw in the flashbang before covering his head with his arm—as did the rest of the squad. He heard voices coming from inside, but it didn't deter him.

Bralov burst through the door single file. Caybur squeezed the trigger once, twice, three times in single shot bursts. From behind him, he heard two more shots go off, presumably from Prudii and Orar. In front of him, the two non-identified targets dropped to the floor, as did Mh'eeq. It all happened in slow motion, the shots from his rifle felt like they were spaced minutes apart, and it felt like an eternity before the bodies hit the floor, but it had all happened in less than ten seconds from the flashbang going off to the last body hitting the floor.

As they got further into the room, time sped up again and everything began happening at real time. The room was clear apart from a single protocol droid who was standing in the corner, clearly curious about what had happened.

The squad moved over to the three bodies that lay on the floor around the desk. The two unknowns had attempted to draw blaster pistols from their suits that now were sitting on the floor beside them, a blaster wound in each one's head. Mh'eeq was motionless on the ground, two blaster shots in his abdomen and a third in his forehead. Caybur was annoyed with himself that he had used two extra blaster shots when he knew that a single shot to the head would have more than sufficed, as his brothers knew.

Prudii and Orar held their glove sensors to the bodies of the two unidentified men on the ground and checked their vital signs. Caybur knelt down and did the same to Mh'eeq.

"Kill confirmed," Orar said.

"Same here," Prudii added.

"Good thing you told us to go lethal, boss," Orar said as he stood up. He picked up the blaster pistol and looked it over. "Although I'm not sure they would've been able to do anything with this little thing." He held the weapon at arm's length and fired it at Prudii's chest, the blaster bolt bouncing off the hardened Katarn armour and into the floor, barely a scratch left behind as a result.

"Caybur, how'd you go?" Kedin asked.

"Kill confirmed, Sarge," he replied, less than enthusiastically.

"No time to dwell on wasted shots." Kedin clearly knew what had made his brother upset, both of them being bred for efficiency and precision. "Time to bang out."

Caybur acknowledged his brother and stood up, jogging with the squad back to the door they had entered, through the hallway and up the staircase. He could tell by Kedin's head movements that he was calling back the larty that had dropped them off. Bralov had reached the top of the staircase in time to see the larty touchdown on the roof of the building. They knew they didn't need to bangout as quickly as they had infiltrated, but they didn't linger. Caybur jumped aboard and turned to help his brothers load in.

Within several seconds, the larty took off again, Bralov aboard, and pulled away from the building. It was no different than the many simulations they had attempted, however this one had real casualties; beings that had died by his blaster. The blast doors slammed shut as the larty's drives kicked into high gear and they headed back to _Dominance_ standing by above the clouds, ready to receive them.

Caybur felt no remorse for what had happened, he was simply getting on with the job he was made to do. In his mind, and in Bralov's mind, it was a successful mission.

He checked his chrono.

Six minutes, forty-two seconds.

It occurred to him that this was his life. This is what he was trained to do; what they were all trained to do.

* * *

 _ **Welcome, readers!**_

 _ **It feels like it's been a long, long time since I last added a story. I suppose it hasn't been as long as it feels, it more comes down to the fact that a lot has happened since the last story I uploaded.**_

 _ **I'm not going to write a really, really long message explaining everything, but essentially, I have had a terrible run with the stories I have written. It's a combination of events taking place and a loss of interest/inability to concentrate.**_

 _ **Recently, however, I have begun writing again, so I'm going to be posting more stories – both fan fiction and original. It's going to as short stories like this, and one day it will evolve into larger, longer stories.**_

 _ **In short: I've begun university, and I'm going to exercise my writing abilities in the hopes of improving what I can do.**_

 _ **Anyway, not going to bore you any more!**_

 _ **Hopefully you enjoy, and if you do, you can look forward to more stories in the coming year :)**_

 _ **\- The Marvel Man**_


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